


I know why the caged bird sings.

by canariver



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, BAMFs, Charlies kind of a dick at first, F/F, F/M, Female at Welton, Freeform-ish, Gen, How Do I Tag, I am a Romantic, I like to think, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm in love with charlie, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Slow Burn, They all need a hug, Welton Academy, i make fun of the chris/knox storyline, i need my dose of happiness, its just so creepy, just a bit, not enough to be sad i think, period-typical idiocy, their family's still suck, there is some angst, todd anderson is a good friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canariver/pseuds/canariver
Summary: Elizabeth Hall makes great history when she becomes the first woman to ever attend Welton Academy, but what she creates in the other students is even greater.Title taken from "I know why the caged bird sings", by Maya Angelou.
Relationships: Charlie Dalton/Original Character(s), Charlie Dalton/Original Female Character(s), Chris Noel/Knox Overstreet, Chris Noel/Original Female Character(s), Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Kudos: 5





	1. initium.

**❛** _The caged bird sings_  
 _with a fearful trill_  
 _of things unknown_  
 _but longed for still_  
 _and his tune is heard_  
 _on the distant hill_  
 _for the caged bird_  
 _sings of freedom_. **❜**

**ELIZABETH HALL MADE HISTORY** when her feet touched the corridors of Welton Academy not as a family member of the alumni, but as a student herself. One of the well-known Welton pillars halting, as tradition was challenged after a hundred years. Tradition Elizabeth broke.

In her only year at Welton Academy, she was set on wreaking havoc all year round, and havoc she made.

**CAST _!!_**

DIANE LANE _as  
_ **ELIZABETH VIVIANE HALL.**

**❝** _THE HISTORY BREAKER_ **❞**

WINONA RYDER _as  
_ **JEAN FRANCES PERRY.**

**❝** _THE NEVER LEAVING_ **❞**

AISHWARYA RAI _as  
_ **ROSE LUS CALISTO.**

**❝** _THE VOICE OF REASON_ **❞**

GALE HANSEN _as  
_ **CHARLES DALTON.**

**❝** _THE COURT JESTER_ **❞**

ROBERT SEAN LEONARD _as  
_ **NEIL PERRY.**

**❝** _THE FOREVER ACTOR_ **❞**

JOSH CHARLES _as  
_ **KNOX OVERSTREET.**

**❝** _THE LOVE-STRUCK_ **❞**

ETHAN HAWKE _as_ **TODD ANDERSON** | JAMES WATERSON _as_ **GERARD PITTS** | ALLELON RUGGIERO _as_ **STEVEN MEEKS** | DYLAN KUSSMAN _as_ **RICHARD CAMERON**  
HALLE BERRY _as_ **SIDONE WRIGHT** | ALEXANDRA POWERS as **CHRISTINE NOEL** | LARA FLYNN BOYLE as **GINNY DANBURRY** | PATRICIA MANTEROLA _as_ **ROSARIO ROJAS** | **_and many more..._**

**PLAYLIST _!!_**

**❝** Rebel Rebel, how could they know?

Hot tramp, I love you so! **❞**

**stupid cupid** , connie francis; **(you're the) devil in disguise** , elvis presley;

 **treat me like a lady** , lesley gore; **rebel rebel** , david bowie; **you don't own me** , lesley gore;

 **can't take my eyes off you** , frankie valli; **let's have a party** , wanda jackson; **sugar sugar** , the archies;

 **you really got me** , the kinks; **a teenager in love** , dion & the belmonts; **dream lover** , bobby darin;

 **i saw her standing there** , the beatles; **i wonder why** , dion & the belmonts; **dream a little dream of me** , cass elliot.


	2. The caged bird sings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the beginning of the school year in Welton Academy. The begining of the year that would change it all.

> _**"Some day I shall rise and leave my friends** _   
>  _**And seek you again through the world's far ends,** _   
>  _**You whom I found so fair** _   
>  _**(Touch of your hands and smell of your hair!),** _   
>  _**My only god in the days that were..."** _
> 
> _** — Rupert Brooke, "The beginning" (1906) ** _

·················•·················

“One hundred years ago, forty-one boys sat in this room and were asked the same question that greets you at the start of each semester. Gentlemen, what are the four pillars” Spoke clearly the headmaster of Welton Academy, Gale Nolan, to which all students stood up to speak in unison.

“Tradition! Honor! Discipline! Excellence!” After finishing, they all sat back down as quickly as they stood up before, to let Nolan resume his speaking.

“In her first year, Welton Academy graduated five students. Last year we graduated fifty-one. And more than seventy-five percent of those went on to the Ivy League. This kind of accomplishment is the result of fervent dedication to the principles taught here. This is why you parents have been sending us your sons. This is why we are the best preparatory school in the United States.” Before Nolan even finished speaking, applause was heard, and everybody could see Nolan’s proud smirk when the crowd applauded, and he resumed talking when they stopped. “As you know, our beloved Mr. Portius of the English department retired last term. You will have the opportunity later to meet his replacement, Mr. John Keating, himself a graduate of this school. And who, for the past several years, has been teaching at the highly regarded Chester School in London.”

The people applauded once more, but this time, Nolan did not smile, because he had one more thing to announce, and most people currently in the old Welton church did not know what would happen.

“Now, before we begin with the year, I would like to introduce everyone to Elizabeth Vivian Hall.” The doors of the Welton chapel were opened yet again, and a young woman, dressed with a simple off-white shirt, a black scooter skirt that ended just below her knees, and a pair of black mary janes that contrasted with her white socks — every alumni, parent, and staff member turned around, hearing the sound of her shoes against the floor, and watched her walk.

Elizabeth walked confidently, with her chin up, but her nervousness showed when she did not dare to look at anybody in the eye, not even headmaster Nolan, who welcomed her in a spot next to him with what Elizabeth considered an ‘excuse’ of a warm smile. As soon as she was standing up next to Nolan, looking to the attendees, the headmaster resumed speaking — nobody else was going to, as they were all rendered speechless by the entrance of such a young woman.

“As some of you know, last year there was one male student handpicked by the faculty and board members, but most don’t know why. Your fellow student, Andrew Lee, was sent off to our sister school, Henley Hall, to set some sort of trial and improve each school even more. Elizabeth here, was too handpicked out of Henley, and was chosen to study the next semesters with us all” Nolan looked at Elizabeth as he finished speaking, and Elizabeth bowed to the people in front of her, as to say hello in the most well-mannered way she knew.

All hell broke loose, with students speaking, clapping, and wolf-whistling at her at the same time. Elizabeth could only think that this was some sick joke being played and she was the victim, but no, so she just smiled to everyone, and took a seat right next to the newest staff addition, Mr. Keating, as thankfully Nolan knew how bad teenaged boys with girl-abstinence could get.

Mr. Keating offered Elizabeth an actual warm smile when she sat down next to him, to Elizabeth, he reminded her of his uncle, who the family cut ties with (but she still maintained contact with, he was the only sane person in her family for God’s sake). Elizabeth smiled back, and greeted him with a hello, to which the man responded in the same way, and they both returned to look at Nolan, who was now finishing the assembly.

·················•·················

Elizabeth now felt like prey waiting to get eaten as she walked to her dormitory, every breath she took was being admired by all boys she passed next too, some even had the audacity to grope her. Elizabeth would remember their faces, and seek revenge.

For now, though, she’ll play nice — and if nice meant ignoring the ass-touching and wolf-whistling, she’d have to make do. Her focus on being nice was suddenly put in pause, as she bumped into someone — _‘For fucks sake’_ she thought, _‘That’s on me for not paying attention’_.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Elizabeth spoke, looking up to see a boy who looked around the same age as her, but he wasn’t wearing the Welton uniform, so he was probably there to see someone else, or was transferring, like her. What she did notice is that his blonde hair and brown eyes seemed oddly familiar, as if she’d seen them before, so she introduced herself — even though Nolan introduced her to everyone before —, in hopes to know more about him. “I’m Elizabeth Hall, the trial girl.”

The boy she bumped into was already red on the face, now, he was even redder, if that was possible, but he spoke, even if it was with a slight stutter. “I’m s- sorry, I di-didn’t see you there. Todd Anderson.”

And after hearing his name, it hit her “Todd? Like, from Balincrest?” she asked, without believing a thing in front of her.

It seemed that Todd realized who she was, too, because his eyes widened and his mouth opened agape before speaking. “B- bethy, it has b- been a while.” He sheepishly smiled at her, looking a bit more confident as he now knew one person in his new school “Le- let me take your s- stuff”

Elizabeth smiled at him, giving Todd her suitcase but keeping her handbag, smiling more widely when she saw the frown on his face after doing so.

_‘Sometimes’_ Elizabeth thought _‘Sometimes, men aren’t that bad.’_

And now, with Todd carrying her suitcase, and less men looking at her as if she was going to be their dinner, the duo walked towards Elizabeth’s room, which wasn’t so far away. And apparently, it was right next to Todd’s (and his roommate’s) room.

“I can’t believe you’re here, Todd” Elizabeth laughed as she set her handbag on the only bed in the room, “Actually, I can — how’s Jeffy?”

Todd rolled his eyes at Elizabeth while lifting the suitcase and placing it in a table inside the room, where, if she had a roommate, their bed would probably be.

“Je- Jeffrey’s in Harvard. Law.” Todd’s stutter was never leaving, and now Elizabeth understood why he was so incredibly uncomfortable — Jeffrey too had gone to Welton, and Todd’s parents were probably bothering him about it.

“Shit, Todd” sighed Elizabeth “At least ‘ya got me, huh? Changing topic — let’s go to your room, I’m bored.”

Todd nodded back at Elizabeth, signaling he too wanted to leave, and so they did. All they had to do was close the door quite well and do at maximum five steps, as Todd’s room was right besides hers. Problem was, in the door of his room was another boy, probably talking to Todd’s roommate — and as much as Todd did not want to participate in a conversation with anybody else, they both barged into the room, but not before hearing the boy-against-the-door’s thoughts on the two of them.

“Hey, I hear you got the new kid. Looks like a stiff! I hoped to have the girl, but I’m stuck with Dalton.” The boy laughed until he saw both Todd and Elizabeth get inside the room, before leaving with a ‘whoops’.

“Listen, don't mind Cameron. He was born with his foot in his mouth. You know what I mean?” Todd’s roommate spoke to the pair, clearly refraining from laughing at either Cameron’s words or just at Cameron, but before anybody could say another word, three other boys stepped up in the doorway.

“Rumor has it, you did summer school.” The one resting his side on the doorway spoke, wearing a smug smirk on his face, talking directly to Todd’s Roommate, not acknowledging the other two.

“Yep. Chemistry. My father thought I should get ahead. How was your summer Slick?” Todd’s roommate responded, and after the smug-face-boy answered Todd’s-roommate, the three boys in the doorway entered the room.

“Meeks. Door. Closed” Said smug-face to the last boy to enter, who had glasses and brown hair so red-toned it passed for ginger (or ginger hair so brown it passed for brown, either way, Elizabeth couldn’t tell).

“Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?” Asked Todd’s-roommate to the three boys now in their room, Todd and Elizabeth choose to listen in to their conversation from Todd’s bed.

“Travesty. Horror. Decadence. Excrement.” smug-face sat down on the bed opposite Todd's, while both the so-called Meeks and the other boy, still unnamed, were still standing, resting on the walls.

“Okay, study group. Meeks aced Latin. I didn't quite flunk English. So, if you want, we've got our study group.” Spoke smug-face to the others.

“Sure. Cameron asked me too. Anyone mind including him?” Said Todd’s-roommate to smug-face, not bothering to look up from the luggage he was unpacking.

“Hmm, what's his specialty, boot-licking?”

“Come on, he's your roommate.”

“That's not my fault.”

It was then when the people in the room noticed Todd and Elizabeth — and by people in the room, we’re talking about Meeks.

“Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Steven Meeks.” The boy spoke, looking at the duo with a smile and slightly rosy cheeks, that Elizabeth prayed weren’t caused by her presence.

“I’m Elizabeth Hall,” she smiled at them all “But I assume you all know that.”

Smug-face directed, well, a smug look at her, noticing her presence, “Indeed we do, doll.”

“Please don’t refer to me like that,” Elizabeth scoffed, her nice act long forgotten “Or just at all, thank you.”

Todd’s roommate laughed at Elizabeth’s words, sharing a look with smug-face that she did not comprehend, before introducing Todd to the other boys, as he had stayed silent. “This is Todd Anderson, his brother was Jeffrey Anderson.”

And as Todd shook hands with each of the other boys, Elizabeth just sat still and listened to their names, not bothering to get up — not _her_ fault one of the good things at Welton were the beds.

“Oh yeah, sure. Valedictorian. National merit scholar.” smug-face said, before introducing himself and lighting up a cigarette Elizabeth did not see him hold before “The name’s Charlie Dalton.”

The other boy, not Meeks, but the unnamed, introduced himself, too, saying his name was Knox Overstreet. He, unlike Charlie Dalton, looked nice and sweet, like the boy a parent would be glad to take home. FInally, Todd’s roommate introduced himself to ELizabeth, saying his name was Neil Perry.

“I know your cousin, Jean Frances,” Elizabeth said as she snapped her fingers, making the connection “She goes to Henley, too. Good friend of mine.”

“Oh,” Neil said, his face showing a slight shock “I haven’t seen Jean in a long time, how is she?”

“She’s doing well,” smiled Elizabeth, remembering her friend “Probably causing a bit less trouble without me — hopefully.”

Neil laughed, and left Elizabeth to wonder about her friends back at Henley, until Meeks spoke again.

“Oh well, Welcome to Hell-ton.” He said.

“It’s every bit as tough as they say,” Charlie retorted before adding to his statement “Unless you’re a genius like Meeks.

Meeks got closer to Todd and Elizabeth, as if to share a secret “He flatters me. That’s why I help him with Latin.”

“And English, and Trig” Added Charlie, coughing while Elizabeth and Todd giggled a bit, until they all heard a knock at the door, and Charlie quickly scrambled to stamp put his cigarette on the floor, as NEil tried to wave the smoke from the air, when Elizabeth rolled her eyes and opened the window, letting all smoke go out.

“For such a prestigious school, you don't seem to think much.” She said, sitting back down in Todd’s bed, next to him.

“It’s open” Neil said, and he quickly sat up as he saw who entered the room — it was a stern-looking man, Neil’s father, Elizabeth assumed “Father, I thought you’d gone.”

All boys stood up when he entered the room, so Elizabeth followed, giving the man a curt nod with a smile, that he corresponded, and he began talking.

“Keep your seats, fellows, keep your seats. Neil, I've just spoken to Mr. Nolan. I think that you're taking too many extracurricular activities this semester, and I've decided that you should drop the school annual.” He looked at Neil with a weird look on his face, as if he did the right thing when he so clearly didn’t.

“But I'm the assistant editor this year.”

“Well I'm sorry Neil.” Mr. Perry spoke, neither looking nor sounding sorry.

“But Father, I can't. It wouldn't be fair.” Neil protested against his fathers wishes, and that seemed to anger Mr. Perry, who’s whole facial expression changed, and it did not look pretty.

“Fellas — and lady, would you excuse us for a moment?” Mr. Perry said without waiting for a response from the others and he walked towards the door, and Neil followed him hesitantly.

As the door closed after Mr. Perry left, the room seemed much tenser than before. Sure, they all had awful parents — awful enough to send their children to Welton, but it seemed that Mr. Perry graduated from Bad Parenting Academy with honors, being the worst of all. Nobody talked, half-wanting to listen in to Neil’s conversation with his dad, and also feeling too uncomfortable to say a word after such interaction.

After what felt like hours, but were probably around five minutes, the door opened again, showing Neil entering the room, and Mr. Perry leaving the dormitories. Neil sighed as he closed the door, leaning his head back against the wall as the other boys finally talked again — Elizabeth didn’t know what to say, and apparently neither did Todd, so they both just listened.

“Why doesn't he let you do what you want?” Spoke Charlie, getting up from Neil’s bed and going next to him, plopping his hand on his shoulder with a sympathetic look on his face.

“Yeah Neil, tell him off. It couldn't get any worse.” Knox finally spoke, adding on to Charlie’s thought process.

Neil rolled his eyes. “Oh, that's rich. Like you guys tell your parents off, Mr. Future Lawyer and Mr. Future Banker.” His voice was drenched in frustration, and he shoved Charlie’s hand away from his shoulder.

As his hand fell back, Charlie lifted his arms as if he was being held at gunpoint, and spoke with a smile on his face, he seemed to try and cheer up Neil, failing “Okay, so I don't like it any more than you do.”

“Well just don't tell me how to talk to my father. You guys are the same way.” Neil scoffed as he left the place he was in, now walking towards his bed and sitting down, still looking frustrated with the situation

“All right, all right, Jesus.” Spoke Knox, sitting down next to Neil and resting his back on the wall next to the bed “So what are you going to do?”

“What I have to do. Drop the annual.” Responded Neil as a matter-of-fact.

“Well I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.” Smiled Charlie again, trying to lift Neil’s spirit “It's just a bunch of jerks trying to impress Nolan.”

“I don't care. I don't give a damn about any of it.” His frustration growing as the frown on his face deepened, and Todd and Elizabeth shared a look — they didn’t want to see any fight happening, not today at least.

“Well, uh,” Spoke Meeks, changing the topic “Latin, eight o' clock in my room?”

Neil’s expression softened, as it seemed his thoughts had now forgotten his father, and centered around his friends again, and he nodded.

“Todd, Elizabeth, you're welcome to join us.” said Meeks, acknowledging the new pair.

“Yeah, come along.” It seemed all Knox did was repeat or reinforce his friend’s words, but again, he looked nice, so there wasn’t a problem.

Todd and Elizabeth both looked at eachother, having a short non-verbal conversation with their eyes alone, not knowing what to do — Todd clearly didn’t feel comfortable, but needed more friends, and Elizabeth wanted to go, but she wasn’t sure if the boys there were all creeps. Eventually, they both came to the conclusion that yes, they would go, so they looked back at Meeks, thanking him for the invitation.

“I’ll come along, but now, I must unpack” said Elizabeth, suddenly remembering she had to be nice, or else… well, she wasn’t sure what Nolan had prepared for her, but if it was Nolan, it couldn’t be any good. “I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Sure hope so, doll.” Dalton spoke, back with that stupid smug smirk plastered on his face, all Elizabeth could do was ignore him, as she went right inside her doorm. “Ah, this is going to be fun.”

·················•·················

As Elizabeth closed her bedroom door, she sighed, walking toward her luggage Todd left on the table, and opening it, placing her clothes in a little dresser next to it.

When she finished unpacking her clothes and other miscellaneous objects, that were not a lot considering most of what she would wear or use was already part of what the school offered, she opened up one of the many books she brought with her. The cover of said book was all-black except for the title that read “A Murder is Announced” in red letters, and the author — Agatha Christie — in white.

Elizabeth plopped herself into the only bed in the room, hearing all the faint sounds coming from outside — all the boys chatting, laughing, and settling into the normality of Welton Academy. She did not know what to think about the place just yet, in a way, she was happy, because she could see herself make friends and have another good school year, a different, but good school year — yet she too felt uneasy, missing what she had the last year, when she transferred to Henley Hall, her friends, Jean, Rose, and even Ginny Danburry, who was a year younger. Elizabeth already felt homesick as she remembered her last year at Henley Hall — but she chose to keep those thoughts at bay, finally reading the book she picked.

After what seemed like hours of reading all about Mrs. Marple and the frenzy of the strange statement in the newspaper, and all that conveyed, Elizabeth fell asleep, falling in some weird dream about a newspaper article in the Welton Academy newspaper, and seeing Nolan in what she pictured to be Mrs. Marple’s detective outfit.

Oh, what she’d do to see Mr. Nolan in a skirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's quite short, but the next one will be a lot longer, so you'll have to wait for it (i'm sorry!), but please do engage and tell me your thoughts on the chapter, the charaters -- anything, please, I'll answer to it all as this quarantine has made me meet zero humans apart from my mother. 
> 
> I'm going grey at 16.
> 
> Also I'd love to add way more representation on both POC and LGBT (and literally any other minority), but I self-reprimand myself for not following the period-typical actions that made people, well, not be themselves freely. Please give me your thoughts on this, too, I'm really torn.
> 
> And that is all, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'm sorry that we don't have many Charlie/Beth interactions but I swear on my love for him that next chapter will have a fair amount of interactions -- I'm planing on making this quite a slow-burn, so don't get too mad.
> 
> I'll be gone for now, I'll see you in the next chapter, goodbye!
> 
> PS: Yes, Todd has a stutter because I can, and I will. I'm *so* making more disabled characters.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my first Dead Poets work! I watched the movie three times yesterday and thats the least amount of times I watched it this week. Not my fault its so good, and I also miss school so it helps a lot (yes, the author's a huge fucking nerd).
> 
> I am not a native english speaker, so if you see any grammatical error, or any error of any kind, please feel free to correct me so I can edit it (but be nice, I'm sensitive). Also, I'll see if I add or remove tags as the work progresses, but this is a Charlie/Original Female Character work, and that's the only tag i'm completely sure will remain -- and i'll try my hardest to stick with all period-typical activities, i was not born in 1940, or the US for that matter, so i'll do as much research as I can.
> 
> And honestly, as much as I love ao3, the formatting you have to do to your works is INSANE and my fingers hurt, but anything for the poets.
> 
> That is all,I hope you enjoy this work as much as I love Charlie and the crew, which is a fair lot, and thank you for reading!
> 
> PS: Why the fuck are there only EIGHT Charlie/OFC works oh my god????


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